Ok, so here is my first attempt at a map with GIMP. I traced the map from U2, and have begun adding to the basic wall outlines. Everything is going on a different layer (floor, walls, background, water, swamp, doors, set dressing, DM's view (for module printing), battle map grid, etc.) which has made life easier when working with a file of this size. I have a number of objects to add from across the web, though what is on this map currently is from the Dunjinni forums. not much on in the way of set dressing yet. (note I have posted without the grid)

Ok, so I know I have a few things to work on... like joining paths, is there an easy way to do this, I am a newbie with Gimp. Also, not sure what I want for the main flooring yet, any thoughts? Oddly this is one area the dungeon description didn't specify. Being a cavern on a sea coast, with swamp area, a plain clean stone is not what I want... though I don't want a complete messy wet floor either... Lizardmen aren't necessarily slobs ;)

I am somewhat following the tutorial on NewbieDM, and I'm sure I'll regret some choices I have made, but what can you do... Once I get to entering my own maps, I'm sure I will be getting much more exacting. I haven't gotten to the shadows on the tutorial as yet, what about lighting? This dungeon is well lit by torches, though I would like to find a way to represent that on the map.

Anyhow, thoughts, constructive criticisms?

39732

anstett

11-07-2011, 09:51 AM

I like the feel of this look. It would work well in a VTT and the curved passageways feel more natural than the standard 10' wide right turns at intervals that were a staple of the old hack and slash dungeons.

The thing that caught my eye was the "docks" in the pool to the west. They seem rather randomly placed and the cavern narrows quite a bit there to be able to maneuver to the ones farther back. Perhaps push that wall west a little more?

BOB

koralas

11-08-2011, 08:02 AM

Thanks, those aren't docks per say, but stairs down into a deep pool where various representatives from some under-water societies reside. I am going to change the stairs down to slopes via a gradient to show the descent, and a gradient for the water to show it growing more shallow where each slope enters the pool.

Didn't get any more work done on the map last night, we were at our Disaster Recovery facility replacing equipment yesterday, and I was just to drained mentally to really take more on. I'll be back at it tonight.

Piscivorous

11-11-2011, 07:32 PM

Doesn't WotC still hold the trademarks on these modules? I've redone C1: Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, but for private use.

anstett

11-12-2011, 09:18 AM

Yes to Piscivorous,

Any work done by anyone (in the United States at least) in the past 75 years or so is still under copyright by their creator (or otherwise licensed beneficiary) and cannot be used or altered from its original form or use.

That being said, fair use of a copyrighted item you own does give you broad rights in how you personally use it. So posting a digital copy of a map (for sale or not) to a site for people to use is wrong. Posting a copy of a work in progress to show like minded individuals and ask experts in their field for suggestions on obtaining better results in an artistic endeavor is permitted.

More pertinent to this thread here, posting this particular map shows the artist working on an image for personal use based on a previous work. His current work would not be reasonably seen as a copyright violation unless he included a map key that corresponds to the information provided in the original module.

Even better and more pertinent to you Piscivorous, post your own version of C1 so that people can give input and praise. That is the key reason for these forums!

We are in a new-ish age for copyright and the lawyers are having a field day.

BOB

disclaimer I am not a copyright lawyer, nor a lawyer. I work in a library and deal with these issues on a daily basis.